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By Katrina Margolis
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Samuel Valentino is not a sit back and watch kind of guy. As a dozen or so children painted traditional Australian Aboriginal works of art, he stood, relaying traditional Aboriginal folktales. One involved the telling of the how The Pointers constellation was created, another the creation of the sun. As he told these stories, the kids would look up from their paintings and interject with excitement, shouting, “Oh, oh! I know this one!” creating a strong environment of interaction and cooperation.
This was the fourth and final class of a course titled Art Around the World. “I actually planned on doing different countries and one girl said, ‘I’m Greek, can we do Greece?’ And I said, sure we can! So we did China, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Australian Aborigine,” Valentino said. “This class, I really appreciated the interactions and I probably would have picked something else, but I was really excited that they wanted Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece.”
Valentino is a Westwood local who is not only an illustrator but a writer as well. His first book was based on fairytale themes, and his class will be based on more unusual folktales. “The next class would probably be more my choice, I would be exposing them to stories and folktales,” Valentino said. “I would want them to learn something different, so I think that will be more the focus of the next class.”
Not only a painting instructor, Valentino encourages children’s imaginations and creativity. While adults are more beholden to preconceived ideas and notions we have about how things should be, children are not as stuck in this mindset. Over Halloween, he went to classrooms to read his book, and to show kids how exactly an illustrator works. “One class wanted a happy monster, so I drew a happy monster. I got to another class and asked how many people want a happy monster and how many want a scary monster. It was five and five and one kid said, ‘Why don’t you draw a two-headed monster, one with a happy face and one with a grumpy face?’ and I thought, ‘This guy is genius!’”
In addition to this class, Valentino teaches weekly at the Westwood Chinese School. “We do sort of get into Chinese art but it’s more. It’s not limited to that. We’ll do acrylic painting or we’ll do Halloween - they all wanted a Halloween project,” he said. He also teaches private and semi-private lessons. Currently, he is helping a college prep student from China who wants to attend art school.
His next course, focusing on obscure folktales, will be offered at the Westwood Library next year.
